Fig. 5
USP14 inhibition enhances mitophagy, modulating mitochondrial function and apoptosis. (A–E) Western blot and semi-quantitative analysis of LC3B II/I, P62, ATPB, and TOM20 expression (mean ± SD, n = 3). (F–G) TEM analysis of cellular autophagy. The boxed regions in the upper panels are magnified in the lower panels. Green arrows indicate healthy mitochondria, red arrows indicate damaged mitochondria, blue arrows point to autophagosomes, and yellow arrows show mitophagosomes. (H–J) Co-localization of ATPB with LC3 was observed via laser confocal microscopy to assess mitochondrial autophagy. ATPB is marked with red fluorescence, LC3 with green fluorescence, and the yellow fluorescence represents co-localization. All cell nuclei are stained with DAPI (blue). Quantification of yellow puncta in each group (mean ± SD, n = 3). Scale bar = 20 μm. Statistical analysis was performed using two-way ANOVA to calculate p-values for the mean ± standard deviation from three independent experiments. ns p > 0.05, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, **** p < 0.0001.
